This invention relates to articles which contain illuminated sequenced motion displays and, more particularly, to the appropriately sequenced illuminated segments of a plurality of segments of an entire display to simulate motion, or display animation. The preferred environment for the carrying or mounting of the animated illuminated displays are articles of clothing and rigid display boards which may be used in advertising point of sale goods.
There have been many prior attempts at providing sequential motion or animation to an illuminated display, some of those have been found to utilize articles of clothing. One manner of providing illumination to an article of clothing is by using light emitting diodes connected to an underlying rigid printed circuit board mounted either to the interior of the clothing article, or between the inner and outer surfaces of the clothing article, with the light emitting end of the diode projecting through the garment to the outside surface to be viewed when illuminated. The various U.S. Patents which fall into this category are U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,008 [Miller, et al.], U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,290 [Wells], U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,206 [Deutsch] and U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,191 [Davila].
Another type of illumination of an article of clothing is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,549,878 [Bailey] which discloses the use of bundles of optical fibers secured to selected outer portions of a garment. Individual fiber ends are turned outwardly from the bundles and project through the garment surrounding the bundle and are illuminated by a light source to create a changing color in a fixed pattern.
A light emitting fabric is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,907 [Daniel] which describes the use of optical fibers woven into and forming a portion of the fabric replacing some of the threaded fibers in the fabric. The goal of the optical fibers in Daniel is to uniformly illuminate the fabric of useful clothing articles, such as costumes, high visibility safety clothing, etc. The description of the illumination method is similar to that described above in connection with other articles of clothing with the exception that in this case the fairly long lengths of optical fibers are scratched or abraded along their outer surfaces so that light is emitted along the length of the fiber and not only at its end.
Another article of clothing containing light conducting fibers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,727,603 [Howard] which describes the decoration of the outer surface of the article of clothing where segments of light conducting fibers are stitched onto the outer surface of the clothing forming a decorative pattern. The light conducting fibers are then modified by heating the ends of the fiber segment to produce an enlarged bead or bulbous head and by abrading the longitudinal surface of the lengths of fiber to form regular or random pattern recesses which will emit light along the entire length of the fiber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,818 [Hempsey] discloses the illumination of a flag or pennant using optical fibers to form an illuminated message. U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,259 [Konta, et al.] discloses a toy doll or animal with simulated hair having at least some of the hair fibers formed of optical fiber for illumination of those fibers by a light source within the doll.
More recent disclosures concerning articles of clothing which are illuminated are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,812 [DeMars] and 5,128,843 [Guritz]. The DeMars patent discloses an elongated light tube which can be illuminated for mounting within a groove formed in the wearing apparel and snugly retained in the groove to be illuminated to display a particular fixed shape. The patent to Guritz discloses an optical display device mounted within an article of clothing to enhance body motion, such as the upper body limbs, to enhance the optical display through the motion of the body for ornamental purposes, or for the purpose of providing greater safety to the wearer. The Guritz device uses flexible strip circuit boards, rather than rigid circuit boards, which are used to illuminate a series of incandescent lamps.
Additionally, and particularly with regard to more rigid display apparatus, a moving pattern simulator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,872 [Way]. A display board is provided with a series of perforations at pre-determined locations to receive the ends of a plurality of light conducting fibers. The opposite ends of the individual fibers are bundled within a support member to be arranged in a particular pre-determined spatial relationship so that upon illumination the desired movement of the light pattern appears on the face of the board. A light source spaced apart from the support member is utilized to illuminate the optical fibers by passing light through an opaque disk having a plurality of particularly sized and shaped openings in the disk. As the opaque disk rotates the openings provide a conductive path for the radiated light between the light source and the ends of the optical fibers to sequentially illuminate the viewed ends of the optical fiber bundle in a sequentially pre-selected pattern.
European patent application Publication 01 551 578A2 [French] discloses a decorative floor covering, such as a carpet, which has threaded through it a number of optical fibers which extend to the same height as the carpet fibers. The optical fibers extend in bundles to a light source which, through the means of various colored filters, provide different colored light to the optical fibers, which light is displayed on the surface of the carpet.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,144 [Wainwright], an earlier patent of the same inventor as the present invention, discloses a fabric (preferably formed into an article of clothing) having an illuminated changing display utilizing optical fibers to provide illumination to segments of a changing display. The optical fibers extend along the inner surface of the fabric, are gathered into several pre-selected groupings or bundles, each of which bundle having a connection to a light source which is controlled for illumination of the segments of the design of the display in a select ed sequence.
Although some of the previously disclosed illumination of garments and fixed displays utilize optical fibers, light emitting diodes, incandescent lamps, etc., which protrude through the fabric, generally provide only a fixed display when illuminated. The exception to these illuminated fixed displays are the inventions disclosed in the patents to Way, Wells, Davila and Wainwright. However, all of these patents suffer from the limitation of providing for sequential illumination of periodic but separate displays which, when taken in combination, depict disjointed motion. In the case of Wainwright, the sequenced illumination of the segments of the optical fiber bundles depict an enlarging growth pattern of a flowering plant, but without a continuity of motion which creates an animated illuminated pattern. Further, most of the earlier devices utilize rigid circuit boards or mounting methods which create an unwanted bulkiness and rigidity to at least a portion of the article of clothing which is entirely undesirable especially when using lightweight fabrics and totally undesirable for display panels with limited depth dimensions. Also, optical fibers which are woven into a fabric and which are dependent upon abrasions in their outer surfaces for illumination are impractical for the reason that they create random lighting patterns rather than the desired pattern for producing the-sequenced motion for continuous animation.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide continuously animated pin-point illuminated displays for wearing apparel and display articles.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such enhanced illuminated continuous animation to be equally observable in either daylight or brightly lighted rooms or after dark or in rooms having very low light levels.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system for continuing animation of display images on articles of clothing and on display articles without noticeable bulges or significant space requirements due to wire bundles, bulbs or rigid circuit boards.
It is a further object of the invention to provide detachable control modules that, when removed, allow the article of clothing or display article to be easily washed or cleaned, eliminating the potential for fabric or paper destruction around empty socket holes and the like when earlier illumination systems were entirely removed from their display positions.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide electronic control modules which produce the pre-determined sequential motion providing an observable animation of the displayed scene, which control appropriately sequences the timing of the illumination of display segments, luminescence of the display segments, and for the continuous repetition of the animated sequence of the display.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.
The present invention provides for the combination of a variety of illumination techniques to derive animated motion across a single frame by utilizing timed sequencing of bundles of optical fibers arrayed in specific patterns to produce a plurality of sub-frame images on a planar surface. The various illumination techniques may be described as linear continuous segment, either separate or overlaid, repetitive directional reversing, rotational, and marquee or starburst random which are utilized to define instantaneous image positions producing the desired visual perception of animation or image motion within a single defined area. The present invention by utilizing timed sequence illumination of sub-frame images or array patterns of the display ends of optical fibers will produce the desired visual perception of the instantaneous image defined by the illumination of the array or pattern of optical fiber ends such that motion will be imparted across the defined area of the planar surface to produce the animation of the overall, combined image. It is contemplated by the present invention, in order to make the motion easier to perceive, and to augment the animation, to use a variety of different colors as well as the combination of several different techniques of depicting motion to achieve the desired animated unified movement of the image.
The present invention can be described as an apparatus for producing a continuous animated display of one or more images within a defined area utilizing a changing illuminated pattern of groups of optical fibers. The apparatus may be comprised of a plurality of fiber optic bundles with each bundle containing one or more groups of optical fibers having a first end for receiving illumination and a second end for displaying the illumination across the defined area. The apparatus will also be comprised of a plurality of light sources arranged in juxtaposition against a corresponding number of fiber optic bundles for providing the illumination to the receiving ends of each of the optical fibers. The application of the illumination to the receiving ends of the optical fibers will cause the display ends of one or more groups of the optical fibers, which are mounted to and through a planar surface in a plurality of pre-determined patterns or arrays for creating a plurality of sub-frame images on the planar surface within the defined area. To provide the timed sequence of illumination, a control circuit is provided for illuminating each of the plurality of pre-determined arrays or patterns so that each of the plurality of sub-frame images is illuminated in a pre-programmed timed sequence so that a combined continuous animated motion of one or more images is produced. In this manner, the plurality of sub-frame images are combined to form the combined continuous animated display within the defined area on the planar surface.
The planar surface may be a flexible fabric material such as is used in wearing apparel or be a flexible plastic, polymeric, cardboard or other paper material utilized in constructing substantially rigid display panels. It is also contemplated by the invention that the control circuit comprises switching means for connecting one or more sources of energy to provide sufficient energy to illuminate the plurality of light sources. The control circuit means also contains pre-program means for controlling the timing and sequence of the illumination to the plurality of fiber optic bundles by utilizing the switching means to energize the plurality of corresponding light sources.
It is further contemplated by the present invention that the plurality of sub-frame images may be combined by overlaying such sub-frame images to achieve the combined continuous animated motion of one or more images displayed in the defined area. Such overlaid combination of sub-frame images may produce rotational motion or repetitive directional reversing motion. Further, the plurality of sub-frame images may be combined in a successive linear progression to achieve the combined continuous animated motion of the one or more images across the defined area of the planar surface. Such successive linear progression of sub-frame images may produce motion which will impart image expansion or contraction, segmented directional flow, direction reversing or random sparkling motions. The pre-program timing sequence of the control means may also permit the overlapping of illumination of a plurality of sub-frame images utilizing the successive linear progression illumination technique to achieve the desired motion. It is further contemplated that a means for coloring the plurality of light source s for illuminating the plurality of sub-frame images in different colors is utilized to achieve the visually perceptive animated motion. Further, the present invention contemplates providing means for illuminating the plurality of sub-frame images to achieve a combined, unified, continuous animated motion of the one or more images arrayed across the defined area on the planar surface.